Tron founder Justin Sun has taken legal action against World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency firm with ties to the Trump family, alleging that his $WLFI token holdings were unfairly frozen and that he was subjected to fraudulent misrepresentations and threats. The lawsuit claims that World Liberty's leadership engaged in an illegal scheme to seize Sun's tokens, which he had purchased after being solicited by the company in 2024.
Sun invested $45 million in $WLFI tokens, reportedly due to the project's potential to promote decentralized finance and its association with the Trump family. However, when Sun declined to continue investing in 2025, including a request to mint World Liberty's USD1 stablecoin, the company's principals allegedly became hostile towards him. The lawsuit alleges that World Liberty made fraudulent statements about the rights of token holders and the governance of the $WLFI tokens, and that the company had centralized control over its tokens despite presenting itself as a decentralized finance business.
The complaint also claims that World Liberty modified the smart contract governing $WLFI in August 2025 to add a 'blacklisting' function, allowing the company to freeze tokens without disclosure to investors. This modification was allegedly used to freeze Sun's tokens, pressuring him to mint $200 million of the USD1 stablecoin and manipulating the market price of $WLFI tokens.
The lawsuit further alleges that World Liberty's actions may have regulatory implications, potentially qualifying the company as a money transmitter subject to registration and anti-money laundering requirements. Other allegations include threats made by World Liberty co-founder Chase Herro against Sun and his businesses, including a claim that Sun's know-your-customer documentation was inadequate and a threat to report him to U.S.
authorities. Sun has stated that he attempted to resolve the situation in good faith and seeks to be treated equally to other early investors who received tokens.